US presidential debate: Live event might expose ageing Biden while lack of audience could stump Trump
Joe Biden’s age is written on his resting face, the one that stares into camera like it’s your fault.
It’s the look of his 81 years and it doesn’t look great on a debate stage – more ready for bed than for a second term.
It matters in Atlanta.
Biden enters the TV face-off ridiculed by opponents as mentally unfit for the job.
It’s a perception embedded in the public consciousness, fed by high-profile episodes of supposed “brain freeze” – this, despite a robust rejection of frailty by the White House.
A CBS/YouGov poll earlier this month found that only about a third of voters thought Biden had the cognitive ability to serve as president, compared with half for Trump.
How Biden performs in the hostile environment of a no-notes, live TV debate could be an occasion to confirm or confound age concern.
He needs to avoid reinforcing the notion of weakness.
If this occasion is pivotal in the presidential race, that’s where the pivot point lies.
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Biden freezes during holiday celebrations
Millions will watch the debate from start to finish but millions won’t – they’ll consume it via the social media breakdown and base their judgements accordingly.
Ninety minutes of television will come down, largely, to viral “moments”, cut and pasted as campaign touchstones to drive fundraising and political ads.
In the modern era, they are the moments that can define a political campaign and the difference between success and failure – a TV contest, and so more, could be lost on a momentary lapse.
Biden ‘shadow-boxing’ ahead of main event
The president and his team have been shadow-boxing through mock debates at his Camp David retreat. Biden’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer has been playing the role of Trump.
Faking it in the Maryland hills will be in stark contrast to the real thing in Atlanta.
Presidential advisers who micro-manage their man and his environment will be throwing him solo into a situation uncontrolled and unpredictable.
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They will settle for “State of the Union” Biden. In addressing America’s political establishment in March, his performance was suitably presidential.
As Democrats sighed relief, Trump growled resentment, accusing Biden of being “all jacked up” on cocaine.
He’s at it again, suggesting that the president will take a “shot in the ass” as a chemical booster ahead of the TV debate – in doing so, he’s laying the ground for a strong Biden performance, having previously written him off.
Trump’s less structured preparations
Donald Trump’s preparations have been less structured than Biden’s. Advisers have told him to focus on subject matter with which he scores best with voters – inflation, immigration and crime among them.
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How did Biden beat Trump in the 2020 debates?
The two men haven’t been in the same room together since they last debated before the 2020 election.
Four years on, the conditions are different. There will be no studio audience for punchline response and reassurance, only a penetrating silence that will sharpen scrutiny – from the moderators and from each other.
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Trump supporters suggest he’ll benefit from the absence of an audience because a calming effect will rein in his instinct towards belligerence.
His detractors counter that a Trump performance is built on crowd interaction and he’ll struggle in a sterile setting that requires rounded argument.
We’ll find out when the two old foes enter the stage, presumably with a handshake although that’s not been confirmed.
If the choreography allows, it will be the coldest greeting ahead of a hotly anticipated night.
There are 161 people still missing in Texas in the aftermath of last weekend’s deadly flash floods, the state’s governor has said.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, governor Gregg Abbot said the number of missing had risen markedly.
He said among the missing were five children and one counsellor from Camp Mystic – where at least 27 people were killed in the flash flooding.
At least 109 people are confirmed to have died in the floods, which took place on the 4 July weekend, but this figure has been steadily climbing ever since.
People comforted each other in Kerville. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
The bulk of deaths, and the main search for additional bodies, have been concentrated in Kerr County and the city of Kerrville.
The area was transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, unleashing deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River.
Travis County, Kendall County, Burnett County, Williamson County, and Tom Green County were also hit.
Mr Abbot said many of those who were unaccounted for were in the Texas Hill Country area, but had not registered at a camp or hotel, posing further challenges for authorities.
Camp Mystic
Mr Abbot planned to make another visit to Camp Mystic.
The century-old all-girls Christian summer camp was badly hit by the flash floods, with at least 27 campers and counsellors dying.
Hanna Lawrence, left, and Rebecca Lawrence, right. Pic: John Lawrence/AP
Lila Bonner (L) and Eloise Peck both died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, Texas. Pic: Family handout
Chloe Childress. Pic: Debra Alexander Photography via AP
Some of the victims include Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, both eight, Chloe Childress, 19, who was among the counsellors at Camp Mystic when the flood hit, and Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, both nine.
There were scenes of devastation at the camp as the flood water receded.
Outside the cabins where the girls had slept, mud-splattered blankets and pillows were scattered.
Also in the debris were pink, purple and light blue luggage, decorated with stickers.
A view inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after the flooding. Pic: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
Camper’s belongings lie on the ground following flooding on the Guadalupe River, at Camp Mystic.
Pic: Reuters
‘Everything looked flooded and broken’
One of the campers, 10-year-old Lucy Kennedy, told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that she woke up to the sound of thunder at around midnight before the floods struck.
“I couldn’t go back to sleep,” she said. “I just had a feeling that something really bad was about to happen.”
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She said the girls at the camp were told to grab blankets, pillows and water bottles and line up single file as the floodwater rose, before getting airlifted to safety.
Wynne Kennedy, Lucy’s mother, added: “When I saw her, she was wrapped up in a blanket, had a teddy bear.
“We just held each other tight, and I held her all night.”
Their home in Kerrville was also destroyed by the flash floods.
Lucy Kennedy, 10 who was rescued from Camp Mystic, and her mother Wynne. Pic: NBC
Political row
Meanwhile, a political row has unfolded parallel to the recovery efforts, with some questioning whether local authorities sent out warnings and alerts early enough.
Similarly, Democrats have criticised Donald Trump over cuts his Elon Musk-launched Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made to the National Weather Service – but it isn’t clear whether these actually made any difference.
Read more:
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Why did deadly Texas floods catch people by surprise?
Wall of water
The flash floods erupted before daybreak on Friday, after massive amounts of rainfall caused the Guadalupe River to rise by eight metres in less than an hour.
The wall of water overwhelmed cabins, tents and trails along the river’s edge.
Some survivors were found clinging to trees.
Some of the campers had to swim out of their cabin windows to get to safety, while others clung to rope to make it to higher ground.
The date for Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sentencing hearing has been confirmed.
Following his high-profile trial, the hip-hop mogul was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution by jurors in Manhattan, New York, last week – but was cleared of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Defence lawyers argued Combs, who has been in prison in Brooklyn since his arrest in September last year, should be bailed ahead of sentencing given the not guilty verdicts for the more serious charges, but Judge Arun Subramanian denied this – citing, among other things, the rapper’s own admissions of previous violent behaviour.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in court after the verdict was delivered. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy carried a potential life sentence. Combs still faces up to 20 years in prison for the prostitution-related offences, but is not expected to receive the maximum punishment.
After the verdict was delivered, the judge scheduled the sentencing hearing for 3 October. At a remote follow-up conference on Tuesday, with agreement from the defence and prosecution, the judge approved the date.
Combs joined the call but did not make any comment.
Any sentence will include credit for time already served – which will be just over a year by the time the hearing takes place.
During his trial, Combs was accused by prosecutors of abusing and coercing three alleged victims, including his former long-term partner, singer and model Cassie Ventura.
Jurors found the allegations did not amount to sex-trafficking or racketeering, or running a criminal enterprise – but they did find him guilty of transporting Cassie and another former girlfriend “Jane” for prostitution offences around the US, and paying male escorts to engage in sexual encounters.
Despite the guilty verdict on those charges, the 55-year-old’s team described it as “the victory of all victories”.
Read more:
How the trial unfolded
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
In an interview over the weekend, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said Combs had received a standing ovation from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after being acquitted of the more serious charges.
“They all said, ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government’,” he said.
Ahead of sentencing, Combs’s lawyers will file their recommendations by 19 September, with prosecutors likely to follow a week later.
Prosecutors previously said the rapper could face about four to five years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, while the defence has suggested a two-year sentence.
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